Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-11-18
FreepOrI DiStillery.

Monday, Oct "a, 1887, we visited
the large and expensive brick distll-
lery of Guckenheimer & Bros. of
Freeport, Armstrong Co, Pa. In
doing so we were shown through the
premises by Mr.. Robert Donaldson,
an eX-soldier OF the Union army, who
has held that position for the last
twenty years This establishment
is devoted to the manufacture of rye
whiskey. la another part Of Free
port, Messrs Guckenheimer have aa-
other establishment for making corn
whi>key. Our time was spent in
the first named distillery, and as the
question of whisky or no whisky"
is before the people it will interest
our readers to relate some things we
noticed and were told by those en-
ployed there 1t is said the proprie-
tors are Jews, rest their works on
the Sabbath and will employ no per-
son OF Incorporate habits. About
sixty men fnd employment with
them and receive their pay regularly
and promptly each Saturday night.
We saw no sign of intemperanee
among those we conversed with
! An argument for total abstinence ev-
en- among those who make and live
by the sale of "the vile stuff" Ev-
erything in and about the premises
is systematized and they are kept
quite neat and clean The distillery
is heated and its machinery run by
steam, the boilers being immense
affairs in size.
The rye is bought in and shipped
from the West. though we were told
that Butler Co. Pa furnished the
best rye they used. In the distil
lery roller-process mill grinds all
the grain that is consumed. The
very costly property is protected
from fire by apparatus that, on Eve
minutes notice, can be made to
drench any part thereof with abun-
dance of water.
The proprietors feed and fatten o
large number of beef cattle from the
the grain after it has gone through
the termenting process and the juice
is extracted. 1t is remarkable how
fat and well favored" their cattle
look, after few months feeding on
the still slop' Il it not probable that
there is more bloat than fat beef on
such beasts. and that such beef can
not lie as wholesome as that made
from grain and grass as nature made
them, before mans art marred them
by distiilation? We cannot wait to
to tell of the number of things that
took our attention. The most anus
ing was the manper in which little
silver tube bobbed up and reeled like
e drunken man in the air-eXcluded
glass jar into which the vapor from
the liquor was condensed about once
an hour to test its quality. The
tube stands upright and sill in the
vacuum, but as the liquor vapor as.
cends and fills the vacuum and be-
comes more dense, the tube commen-
ces to swing from side to side and
gradually descends, till pop it goes
out Of sight in the dark auid boiling
and bubbling at the bottom of the jar,
High and low wines take their
names. we understand, from the den-
sity of the vapor from them. indicated
by agraded scale on the air jar refer.
red to. la the ware house of the
Freeport distillery, perhaps the
largest in Western Pennsylvania,
there are stored no less than 10000
barrels Of this rye whisky, which will
average near so gallons each. On
this whisky the U. S. government
collects revenue Of 90 cents gallon
not one drop of which may leave the
premises till this revenue is paid.
Guckenhemsr or IL Bros. are now man.
ufacturing from As TO SO barrels of it
daily. SO this great government,
whose starry flag projects our people,
receives a daily revenue from this
liquor manufacturing firm of nearly
$2,250, or $704, $50 per annum. Six
revenue inspectors, or employees of
the government, were present attend
ing to their duties of gauging the bar
rels, nilixing the U. s. stamp, and
collecting the revenue on the rye and
corn whisky manufactured, which
finds market in all parts of the coun-
try and even across the seas. 1t is
said the manufacture of liquor at
Freeport has fallen from 1910 to SO
barrels per day, doubtless owing
largely to the diminishing demand
for this dangerous foe to our nations
peace aud prosperity. AS we stood
in tho bonded ware house filled in
three stories to the ceiling with these
10000 barrels of old rye, we could
not help thinking what o wicked per.
version OF grain from its Legitimate
use Of feeding man and beast. to its
manufacture into that which de.
thrones reason destroys the body and
sends souls to destruction As the
chief engineer said to us, "if men
would only use 1t in the medicinal
and mechanical arts and let it alone
as q drink it would all be we'll" But
alas men do not thus use it, and
what are we going TO do about it I
Shall men and women and little chill
drcn continue. to suffer for their daily
bread, while that which Cos design.
ed to feed them is perverted into that
which is 80 generally used as the
deadly and dangerous poison, which
is cutting off near hundred thousand
lives every wear in this country p
Sandy Luke (Mercer Coz Necs OF
Nov 4, 1887.
How TO Destroy Enemies.
To march through nm enemy e